Construction for rail-joints



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Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET lumrso STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM P. THOMSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE RAIL JOINT GOM-PANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CONSTRUCTION FOR RAIL-JOINTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

Application filed January 17, 1921. Serial No. 437,898.

struction and has particularly in View anovel combination of features inthe construction and mounting of a rail joint intendedto provide anadequate remedy correcting certain defects due to present practice.

. Primarily it is the purpose of the invention to provide a welldesigned joint bar having its head bar structure so related to the weband underside of the rail head as to provide for a novel seating andadjust ment of the bar, obtaining a new ratio of transverse to verticalstiffness, while also meeting all the requirements of a good splicehaving the facilities for being readily tightened to take up wear andlooseness, at the same time establishing an exceptional relation ofvertical resiliency and transverse stability. This exceptional relationof vertical resiliency and transverse stability is designed to produce arigid and powerful transverse grip on the upper portion of the railwithin a region which is closer to the center of gravity of the railthan has hitherto been the common practice, thus assuring absolutelytrue rail head alinement whileat the same time reducing or freeingaltogether, the rail head from splice bar bearing so as to leave therail head with approximately the. same resiliency at the joint as it haselsewhere along the rail. This freedom of the rail head vertically willhave the effect of reducing the "tendency of the rails to batter attheir ends and will also addition to perpetuating the desirable fea--tures of the joint construction of my Patent #190 583 is to obviate thedefects in p s ent practice resulting from the production and use of asplice bar which is full in the fishing and deficient in verticalresiliency. lVith such a bar, the present practice of wedging it againstboth of the fishing faces of the rail not only makes the joint veryrigid vertically but also causes the bar to stand away from the rail webto an extent which increases in direct proportion to the increase in theamount of fullness in the fishing distance which results from therolling tolerance. These conditions are familiar to those acquaintedwith track maintenance and rolling mill practices, and from bothstand-points are objectionable.

From a track maintenance stand-point, it is a defect to have even aslight advancement of the splice bar outwardly from its normal locationbecause such a condition usually brings the outer surface of the topcorner of the head of the splice bar into the region of interferencewith the .wheel flanges. Also the wedging on both fishing surfacesreferred to leads to a defect from a track maintenance stand-pointbecause wear of the rail and splice bar in service alters the fishingdistance of the rail and of the splice bar producing looseness of fitand furthermore bending and stretching o. the bolts invariably followssuch' loosening of the splice bars.

The above enumerated, as well as other defects considered from thestand-point of track maintenance are remedied by the present invention.

The defects and difficulties due to present rolling mill practices are,as indicated, an important consideration. Principal among these is thedifliculty, in the rolling mill, of keeping within tolerances forfishing distances which would produce even reasonably satisfactory fitof the splice bar to the rail.

The present invention is intended to give much greater rolling tolerancewhich facilitates designing the bar to fit several sections of railwhich vary only slightly in the height of the fishing distance of therail or in the degree of a'ngularity of the fishing surface of theunderside of the rail head. This advantage involves substantialeconomies in manufacture and relieves the roller of the necessity ofexercising that great care which he must now observe to keep withintolerances for fishing distance which will produce even reasonablysatisfactory fit of i the splice bar to the rail.

Furthermore, another important attribute of the present invention, is anovel redesigning of the bar head so that the section modulus of the topof any particular splice bar is substantially greater than that 0 thecorresponding splice bar which has a top conforming to the enerallyrecognized old angle bar form. herefore, an important object of theinvention is to so modify the type of splice bar having its headenlarged laterally, or both laterally and vertically, combined with anovel method of application and maintenance, as to preserve all of thedesirable structural advantages-of the type of bar now generally knownas the 100% joint, while at the same time satisfactorily meeting thedefects growing out of the present practice above referred to.

With these and such other objects in View,

as will more readily appear to those familiar with the subject, theinvention consists in the novel structural features and combination ofelements hereinafter more particularly described, illustrated andclaimed. The invention, having the scope indicated, is necessarilysusceptible of a wide range of structural modification without departingfrom the spirit or principle thereof, but for illustrative purposes, afew preferableand practical embodiments of the invention are shown inthe accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is an end view of a jointbar and rail combining to provide the features of the present invention,the View 1 including dotted lines of certain planes, to which the jointconstruction bears an operative relation.

Fig. .2 is an enlarged view of the head portion of the bar and the upperportion of the rail, showing by exaggeration the peculiarly novelrelation which is maintained between the head of the bar, and the weband head of the rail, the full and dotted lines representing twopositions taken by the bar head.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 exemplifying the range of tolerancepermitted by the present invention between the upper side of the barhead and the fishing of the rail head.

Fig. 4 is an end view of a joint bar and of a rail showing theapplication of the imbearing provements to a splice bar having norailbase supporting member.

Fig. 5 is a detail view showing a modification of the invention whereinan intervenin spacer provides the solid metal bearing 0 the inner therail.

Like references designate corresponding parts in the several figures ofthe drawings.

The present improvements are applicapart of the bar head againstagarages ble to various shapes and forms of rail joint bars, but possessspecial utilit in connection with the .Thomson and homson 100% jointconstruction. That construction is realized in a given splice barwherein the section modulus of its top is substantially greater thanthat of a splice bar whose top conforms to the generally recognized oldangle bar form. In such given splice bar of the 100% type referred to,the

head of the bar is usually laterally en larged, as well as materiallydeepened to obtain a head of great strength, and the present inventiontakes the fullest advantage of this feature of the bar and permitsjointbar 1 is of the continuous or base supporting type of joint, em loying arail base supporting member 3. he head 2 of the bar, according to thepresent invention, bears a definite operative relation to the rail Rhaving the usual web W and head 4; It also bears a definite relation toa certain working area defined approximately at least by certain pointsand planes, as for instance the plane aa intersecting the longitudinalcenter of the rail head fishing surface, the horizontal plane b-b whichbisects the said fishing surface of the rail head, the vertical plane c0intersecting the outermost portion of the head of the rail, the verticalplane cZ-d being tangent to the curving side of the rail web, thevertical plane e-e within which is normally located the outer verticalbolting face of the joint bar and the horizontal plane ff lying at thetop of the bolt holes through the rail.

It will now be seen from what is demonstrated by Fig. 1 of the drawings,that the enlarged head 2 of the joint bar is provided with a topclearance surface 5, an outer corner truncation 6 and an inner headpro-'jection 7. As shown, the feature of truncating the outer corner of thehead of the bar as at 6 is intended to make the bar sufliciently low atthis point, under all conditions and under all adjustments as to producecomplete and safe wheel flange clearance without in any way interferingwith the distribution of metal in the lateral enlargement of the headmaking a head section of any prescribed strength. In conjunction withthe outer corner truncation 6', the top clearance surface 5 of the jointbar represents that feature of the invention which provides forconsiderable latitude in the rolling mill tolerance. That is to say,according to the present invention, it is proposed to reduce rollingprocess at the same time keeping the aster/ea or no contact with theunder side of the rail head. The tolerance referred to depends largelyupon the height of the fishing distance of the rail but in all casesallows greater latitude in rolling than is permissible under presentpractice. Clearance, either partial or entire, from the fishing surfaceof the rail head necessarily provides this wide range of tolerance inthe height of splice bars, in the process of rolling, thus greatlysimplifying and cheapening the upper outer tip of the bar suflicientlyinside of the wheel flange interference to permit a fin to occur at thatpoint of the bar without the expensive necessity of removing such fin.

- The inner head projection 7 of the bar plays an important function incombination with the fillet joining the web and head of-the rail andwith the rail web W which has a cross-sectional wedge formationapproximately above' the center line of the bolt holes, therebypresenting upwardly and outwardly inclining surfaces against which thebar head bears and rides. In other words, the inner head abutment orprojection of the bar head has a'sliding' bearing contact with theupwardly and outwardly inclining surface ofthe rail web, so that as theinner head bearings of the splice bars move upwardly and outwardly onthe rail surfaces the vertical bolt faces 8 of the upper portions of thesplice bars will be jammed outwardly slightly, but enough to produce atightening effect upon the nuts, even after the latter have been madetight by normal wrenching.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the innerhead; projection or abutment 7 is of considerable depth,

extending from the top of the bar to a point below the plane ff at thetop of the bolt holes, thus presenting a wide and substantialabutment/for engagement with the rail, but it is to be observed that theup-" ward and outward movement of the head of each splice bar, whenbearing directly upon the upper part of the web rail, and in someinstances upon the upper fillet connecting the web with the head,serves: to decrease the frictional bearing area of the splice bar headon the rail web by reason of its contacting with the rail along onlnarrow lines of contact. This is graphical shown in Fig. 2 of thedrawings. The 11 line position of this figure represents the bar headhaving an initial broad bearing contact with the rail web, but under theinfluence of force applied by maul or otherwise to the foot of the bar,the head rides upwardly and outwardly on theupwardly and outwardlyinclining part of the ra' resulting in carrying the major part of the ahead out of contact with the rail web and reducing the bearing on therail to the narrow lines of contact 9-9 at the inner upper and lowercorners of the bar head. This is brought about without bringing the topof the bar into contact with the under side of therail head or withoutcarrying the outer corner of the bar into the zone of wheel flangeinterference. This decrease in the frictional bearing area of thecontact of the splice bar head with the rail permits the rail morefreely to expand and contract longitudinally than when gripped by thewhole area of the inner face of the splice bar head, articularly whenclamped with such unyielding force a is obtained by the use of hightensile bo ts. This object is attained with practically no variation inthe out-to-out distance between the bolting faces 8 of the oppositesplice bars, such distance being measured along the center lines of thebolts, and without diminishing the tolerance allowed-by the clearancebetween the head of the bar and the underside of the head of the rail. fI

By way of illustrating the range of modification that may be resorted toin the carrying out of the lnvention, there is shown in Fig. 3 of thedrawings a form wherein the inner head projection of the bar takes asolid fulcrum bearing against the portion of the rail at and adjacentthe fillet between the web andithe under side of therail head and thetop surface 5 of the bar head has a reduced contact with the undersideofthe rail head. That is to say, the top surface 5 of the bar head hascontact with whatmay be termed the inner portion of the rail headfishing surface inside of the plane a-a but has clearance from thatouter portion of the rail head fishing surface which lies outside of theplane wa, the clearance preferably commencing at the longitudinal centerof the said fishing surface of the rail head which is indicated b theintersection of the planes a-w and b-- In all other respects, themodified form of Fig. 3 has the same structural and functionalcharacteristics as the primary form of the invention already described.

Furthermore, the invention is applicable not only to a base supportingtype of bar but also to a splice bar of the non-base supporting type, anexample of which is shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. In thisillustration, a further example is given of the range.

the fishing surface of the rail head with the clearance commencing at apoint inside of the plane (lag and progressively'increasmg outward so asto not interfere with the feature of an enlarged widened head and safewheel flange clearance.

While the forms of the invention so far described have represented thepreferable feature of having direct metal contact between the inner partof the bar head and the rail. a structural modification which may bemade in that respect is to insert an interven ing metallic spacer plate10 between the rail and the inner part of the bar head, as in some casesit might be desirable to introduce axis located approximately within there-' gion of the bolt holes causing the head of the bar to ride upwardlyand outwardly due to the upwardly and outwardly inclining part of therail and thereby canting the outer bolting face 8 (lying within theplane e-e) toward and agalnst the upper portions of the nuts, thisaction slightly canting the said bolting face from its normal verticalplane, and serving to act as a nut look' at the same time decreasing thefrictional bearin of the splice bar on the upper portion 0 the rail withsuch forms of the invention as shown in Figs. 1 and'2. As previouslypointed out, this adjustment occurs without materially spreading theoutto-out distance between the opposlte splice bars along the plane ofthe center line of the bolt holes, thereby obviating excessive increaseof bolt strain. The described action does not bring the upper outercorner of the head of the bar into the region of interference with thewheel flanges, and takes place regardless of whether the top edge of thehead of the bar is partially in contact with the rail head or isentirely out of contact therewith. In those cases where contactoccursbetween the head of the bar and the rail head, such contact is limitedto the inner portion of the fishing bearing of the rail head, preferablyinside of the plane w-a bisecting said fishing bearing.

Further, in reference to the matter of contact of the splice bar headwith the under side of the rail head, such contact may be entirelyomitted, thus giving still eater mill tolerance, when the bar is emboied in the continuous or base-supporting type of bar; but, with theangle bar types of spllices, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, t ersnation of features specially pointed out .willbe apparent withoutfurther description and it is understood that changes in the form,

proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit-or sacrificing any of the advantages of theinvention.

I claim:

1. A rail joint, including the rail, clamp{ ing bolts, and a splice barhaving clearance from the under side of the rail head, and an inner headprojection which has an upwardly sliding bearing contact with the railabove the center line of the bolt hole.

.2. A rail joint including the rail, clamping bolts, and a splice barhaving clearance from the outer portion of the under side of the railhead, and an inner head projection which has an upwardly sliding bearingcontact with the rail above the center line of the bolt hole.

3. A rail joint, includingthe rail and a splice bar having clearancefrom the under side of the rail head, and an inner head projection whichhas an upwardly sliding hear ing contact with the rail above the centerline of the bolt hole and inside of the inner boundary of the flatfishing surface of the rail head.

4. In a rail joint, the rails, clamping bolts, the opposite 'oint barshaving a clearance from the under side of the rail head and an innerhead projection having an upwardly sliding bearing contact against trail, above the center line of the bolt holes, the said bars having anaxis of rotation sub-- stantially at the plane of the center line of thebolt holes.

5. In a rail joint, the rails, clamping bolts, the opposite joint barshaving a clearance from the outer portion of the underside of the railhead and an inner head projection having an upwardly sliding bearingcontact a ainst the rail above the center line of the b0 1; holes, thesaid bars having a 1ongitudinal axis of rotation substantially 7.,A railjoint, including the rail and a splice bar having a clearance from theouter portion of the under Side of the rail head and an outer truncatedcorner portion having safe clearance from wheel flanges, said bar alsohaving an inner head projection which has an upwardly sliding bearingcontact with the inclining upper part of ghei web and adjacent filletabove the bolt 8. The combination with the rail and clamping bolts of asplice bar having a head which is broader horizontally than the fishingsurface of the head of the rail which it is designed to fit, all the topsurface of said head being free from contact with the outer portion ofsaid rail head fishing surface, and a portion of said top surfaceunderlying all of said rail head fishing surface, the head of saidsplice bar having a bearing on the rail inside of a vertical plane atthe longitudinal center line of said rail head fishing surface.

9. The combination with the rail and clamping bolts of a splice bar,having a rail bearing head, part of the top of which underlies and isfree from contact with the outer portion of the fishing surface of therail head, and also having an upright outer face for bolt fasteningbearings, the free top portion of said splice bar head-intersecting twoparallel vertical planes which are separated to an extent at least equalto the width of the disengaged portion of the fishing surface of therail head, one of said planes being the plane of the bolt fasteningbearings and the other of said planes being at the innermost line ofcontact between the rail head and the splice bar.

10. The combination with the rail and clamping bolts of a splice barhaving a head extending from the rail web through and beyond a verticalplane at the outermost part of the rail head, all of the top of saidsplice bar head being free from contact with the rail head above ahorizontal plane which bisects the fishing surface of the rail head, andat least part of said splice bar head which lies below said horizontalplane being firmly in contact with the rail above a horizontal plane atthe top of the bolt holes in the rail web.

11. In a rail joint, the rail, clamping bolts, and a splice bar having ahead which extends outward beyond the edge of the rail head, said splicebarhead being free from contact with approximately the outer half of therail head fishing surface and having a greater extent of initial bearingon the rail between the center of the bolt holes and the inside boundaryof the flat fishing surface of the rail head than it has on said fiatfishing surface of the rail head.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

WILLIAM P. THOMSON.

Witnesses:

E. K. KE SHNER, KATHERINE MONALLY.

